You may have come across the Hoopenburg wine range in a boutique wine shop, or a select restaurant perhaps, and then again, you may have tasted it at the Real Wine Extravaganza in Windhoek, whichever way the wine will not have disappointed you.

Anton Beukes – General manager and all round marketer met me in the tasting room on the estate and promptly took me outside to give us a little background on the estate. Situated between Stellenbosch, Paarl and Durbanville, is Muldersvlei, also known as the Great Simonsberg, here you will find Hoopenburg with its picturesque views, depending on which way you are facing,your panorama will be either the Simonsberg, and following round right across to the distant Table Mountain and Durbanville Hills.

Hoopenburg Estate was originally part of a larger Hooperberg farm - Anton expalians Hoopenberg with an ‘e’ was a pastural farm made up of a number of title plots - the Hoopenburg (with a ‘u’) Vineyards is made up of two of the title deeds. The Schmitz family from Germany, bought the title deeds in 1992 and proceeded to plant bush vines, Hoopenburg Vineyards used to be the only wine estate in South Africa where 100% of the vineyard comprised bush vines, however in recent years, Anton has begun to pull out those labour intensive vines and has planted varieties that are more suited to trellising and mechanisation.

When Anton joined – some seven years ago – the estate had 35 hectares under bush vine. Anton went on to say, where the various variatles were only producing one and half to two tonnes of grapes, this proved to be economically prohibitive. Further more the original planting was mainly Merlot which made up about 1/3rd of the estate’s produce. After discussion with Helanie Olivier - the estates’ winemaker - Anton is grubbing out the older and under producing ‘bush vines’ and replacing them with trellesed cultivars, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Nior, Shiraz, Merlot and Sauvignon.

He is trying to find a formula that will produce wines that are more in demand.

The Terrior and Cellar “At Hoopenburg, we follow and believe in the principle of farming environmentally friendly and responsibally look after our terrior,” says Anton, “We have taken a decision to convert some of our vinyards into 50 year old Anton went the traditional viticulture education route – he went to Stellenbosch – where he studied Bsc in viticulture technologies – there were only eight students, which broke down to only three who went into the industry as people who were not originally from estate owners. Anton was at Morrisons in Fanschoek for 13 years, and then onto Sidleberg for a short spell and then onto Hoopenburg. Anton’s decicision to join Hoopenburg was based on many factors among them was that he wanted to have something new as a challenge, also he was able to live outside of the estate.

Organically grown blocks, and the rest of the estate to strict intergrated wine production standards.” The terrior is nourished by pure underground water, these good soils combined with a moderate climate cooled by afternoon breezes that sweep across the vlei, makes it possible for Hoopenburg to achieve top quality grapes.

“Our winemaking process compliments the grapes natural potential,” says Anton, “All our grapes are handpicked and sorted to ensure that only the best berries are chosen to be used for the juice extraction.”

“Fermentation takes place, mainly in stainless steel tanks, but some in open casks, after which the wine is aged in French Oak barrels,” Anton goes on to explain, “On average, in a good year, we produce some 15,000 cases, 180,000 bottles, ideally I’d like to be producing 240,000 bottles a year though.”

“We produce three ranges of wine; Hoopenburg Integer, Hoopenburg Estate and The Guru.”

Hoopenburg Integer “The unique character of South African vinyards is the diversity in our soils and the micro climate of each vineyard, non is truer at Hoopenburg, we too have different soil types and areas in our 35 hectares” says Anton proudly, “with the Hoopenburg Integer range we select the grapes that will give you the unique tasting experience of the cultivar and the terrior.” There are five varieties to choose from in this range; Integer Cabernet Sauvignon, Integer Syrah, Integer Red blend, Integer Chardonnay and the Integer Cap Classique.

The Hoopenburg Estate As with the Hoopenburg Integer range, the Hoopenburg Estate range also captures the flavour of the fruit of each cultivar, these wines are matured in barrels for upto twelve months before the start of the selection blending process. By far the estate’s largest range of wines, this range consists of; Hoopenburg Sauvignon Blanc, Hoopenburg Chardonnay, Hoopenburg Rosé, Hoopenburg Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon, Hoopenburg Shiraz, Hoopenburg Cabernet Sauvignon and the Hoopenburg Merlot.

The Guru This range is aimed at the ‘lifestyle’ wine drinking market. These wines are created so that they are easily accessible, and will be enjoyed by ‘new’ wine drinkers as well as the more seasoned, yet uncomplicated wine drinker. There are two wines in this range, the Guru Merlot and the Guru Sauvignon Blanc.